His Own Father
by His Lil' Half-Blood Princess
Summary: Set in DH. Along with his other memories of Lily, Severus gave Harry a memory of his father abusing him. Harry watches it, witnessing what made Severus Snape the emotionless, pained, and cold person he ended up becoming. NO SLASH!


**His Own Father**

_I found this lingering on my computer yesterday and it was basically screaming at me, demanding to be posted. I don't know when I wrote this, probably in '09 though, so this is quite old and naive stuff. _

_This is the background on this story: This is included in one of the memories Harry sees of Snape's in DH. It's in between the memory of him and Lily under the trees and the one where they are on the platform. Not much Lily mentioned here, this is centering around Snape's family life at home. Very violent, drinking, abuse, cursing. He he, hope you like it!_

_**XxXxX**_

Harry now stood outside a small house. Where was he? He looked over at the street sign nearby. _Spinner's End. _He shrugged. He looked up and down the streets, waiting for movement, for something to happen.

Nothing.

The street was cobbled, made of sharp stones. It was dark down the little alley and the gray overcast made it all the more eerie. He didn't know what town this was in- if this was England at all. But it had to be a bad neighborhood, considering the shattered windows in various houses. It was unkempt. Nobody cared about Spinner's End, apparently, or anyone who lived here.

Since nothing was happening, Harry decided it'd be best to go inside the small house he had landed in front of. He walked over to the door and opened it up, shocked by what he saw.

The walls in this house were stripped and bare, and the furniture was askew. There were beer and liquor bottes, shattered and whole all over the floor. The floor itself was dusty, and the air smelled like cigarettes and alcohol. Part of the rail on the stairs was missing. Harry shuddered. This couldn't have been much of a happy home and something told him this was Snape's.

Harry wondered through the kitchen, he saw the fridge was opened and it was filled with more liqour, the table was covered in cigarettes, and the floor had missing tiles. A skinny woman was in the kitchen, sweeping the dust and putting the cigarette boxes in cupboards. She was fixing the chairs and the wobbly table, when she looked longingly at the fridge.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Eileen dropped her broom and took out bottle after bottle. She had an entire armful, when the back door opened and a tall man with greasy hair and a hooked nose came in. He looked somewhat like the adult Snape, except he wasn't shaved, or clean at all. He also sort of heavy and a bit muscular, while Snape was skinny and weak. This man's hair was grayish and had bald spots, while Snape's was neat and black. This man smelled of liqour and he was grinning in a mad way.

"So," he hiccupped. "Throwing out my drinks, are we?"

Eileen looked petrified, but managed to stutter, "N-n-no Tobias, you misunderstand, I was just-"

"I didn't misunderstand shit, woman! I know what you're doing! I'm not as much of an idiot as you think."

Eileen stood there, shivering, the bottles still in her arms. Tobias gave a cackle.

"You're scared I'm gonna get drunk tonight, eh? Well too bad, freakshow..." He faded off and smacked his lips. "I need a smoke," he slurred, hobbling over to the table. He looked at it and saw it was bare. He went straight for Eileen and smashed the bottles out of her arms in anger. They were thrashed into the air and they crashed on top of her, soaking her in their contents and cutting her with glass. She started to sob as she fell into the pool of whiskey and scotch. "WHERE ARE MY CIGARETTES?" he roared at her.

"In the-the-the, c-c-cupboard above the-the sink!" she stuttered through tears. She put her hands into her face and sobbed, blood and tears dripping down. Tobias raded the cupboard and took out a box. He opened it, and took out a cigarette. He turned on the stove and lit it, then went back to the table and sat down. He smoked for quite sometime. After a few minutes, Eileen stood up and wiped her face with the hem of her skirt, then turned on the stove herself. She rummaged through the cupboards, trying to find some decent food. They were silent as she cooked something for them to eat. Eventually, she pulled out a plate and slapped something on it, putting it in front of her husband.

"What's this rubbish?" snapped Tobias.

Eileen grimaced. "It's bacon I found in the freezer."

Tobias glared at her, then took a bite. he chewed, swallowed, and shrugged, puffing some more smoke out of his cigarette. He smacked his lips again. "I'm thristy," he whined. "Get me a drink!"

Eileen walked to the cupboard obediently and pulled out a cup, which she filled with water. She gave it to him and mustered a smile. "Itll make you feel... better..."

He stared at her. "This isn't a drink! THIS ISN'T WHAT I WANT! GIVE ME A BEER!"

"No!" Eileen foolishly shouted, but she was sorry she did. Tobias ran to the fridge and pulled out bottles and bottles of drinks and started popping them open. He started literally bathing himself in them. Eileen was screaming in horror as Tobias, who now looked quite drunk, ran to the dustpan and threw its contents out. Tobias knocked the table over in anger. He put cigarettes on the chairs and roared in laughter as flame was set to them. Eileen wrestled with him, as he was going toward the oven, and as she did she shouted, "Go upstairs, Severus! Don't watch this!"

Harry turned around to see Snape, watching the scene from the doorway. His face was covered in dust and he was coughing silently. Eileen was thrown to the floor and Tobias ran to the bottom of the sink and began fiddling with the pipe. Eileen's face was bleeding, Tobias had punched her and she was sitting, silently crying and touching the cuts and bruises all over her face.

Snape didn't seem scared at this. He didn't choke on his breath when he inhaled too much dust. He didn't widen his eyes as Tobias drank his way through the fridge, or shout in horror when the chairs were set to flames. He didn't look scared when his father noticed he was there. He didn't burst into tears as he mother was abused by his father. He just stared through the doorway.

"No boy, you're not going nowhere!" snapped Tobias as a fountain of water soared from the sink. The water spurted out towards him and put his hands in, trying to get the dust off of his face.

"What the hell do you think you are, a prince or something! Washing your face, you aren't proud of your family boy?" cackled Tobias as Snape stepped back from the fountain. "You's rather be living with that girl, the one you wanna play around with? I hear you talking about her- some girl you gonna shack up with some day!"

"What, no, that's not-"

"Oh, I see you blushing! I know you fancy her! I know you want her for yourself, boy, I do! You want her to be your whore."

Snape stared at his father in shock, as though he couldn't believe anyone could speak of Lily Evans in such a way. "No, I'm-"

"SHUT UP! You aren't noting special! You just a scum, like the rest of us! So don't go washing your face like you're somebody or correcting me! You just scum, you are!" And with that, Tobias went back into the fridge.

Snape, who didn't look upset at all about being called scum by his father, took a bowl from the dusty counter. He walked over to the "fountain" and filled it up with water. He dumped it over the chairs. He continued to do it until the fire went out. Now his jeans were soaked and his shirt, which looked as though it was his father's, was extremly dusty. The kitchen, which was at least livable just twenty minutes ago, was a wreck.

Snape knelt down by his mother, who was sobbing desperately into her hands. He tugged at her sleeve gently, but she didn't stop. He sighed and gave her a hug. It seemed that his affection for her was very strong and that he didn't want to see her get hurt.

Tobias turned from the fridge. He looked over at Snape with bloodshot eyes, hugging his mother in the water. He looked over at the chairs, which were no longer alight.

"Get out, boy." he mumured. "Right now."

Snape released his mother and gently, but awkwardly, patted her on the head. He walked slowly through the water, towards the door. He looked back at his crying mother and he was so sorry he did.

_SMASH!_

Tobias had thrown a bottle of beer at his son. It crashed right at his shoulder and there was glass stuck in his face and all over his back. "WHEN I SAY GET OUT, I DON'T MEAN STAND THERE LIKE A GOD DAMN IDIOT AND WATCH YOUR BITCH OF A MOTHER CRY! I MEAN GET OUT!" Snape didn't seem to need to be told again. He dashed out of the kitchen and slammed the door to the sitting room.

Snape was alone. He had three pieces of glass on his cheek and many other cuts as well. He began rubbing his shoulder. It ached so. He was bleeding from the glass in his back and he was soaked in beer. He pulled the glass out of his face, gasping every time he did. It hurt so bad! He began to pull glass out of his back, gasping for breath and crying out as he went.

And when he came to the final piece of glass, which was the biggest, and he yanked it out, he began to cry. He threw himself down onto the couch and buried his face in a pillow. Silently, he wept. Harry was surprised he didn't wail. He had so much to cry about. His dad destroyed his house. His dad abused his mum His dad, his own father, called him scum and threw a bottle of beer at him. From what Harry saw, he knew that his mother wanted more than anything to get up and help her son. But she was too week. She was too scared.

It was a miracle that Snape even knew what a smile was...


End file.
